Facade
by Atkar
Summary: Sasha has a crush on her best friend and decides to go to the gym to try and impress them, where she meets Mikasa, the personal trainer who likes to offer 'friendly advice'. [Mikasasha oneshot] (prompt)


**Façade**

If there was one thing that Sasha knew it was that Connie would never see her as anything else other than his 'best buddy who excelled at games and knew the ins and outs of Pokémon.' They had grown up together, shared each other's bed at sleepovers, eaten from the same plate, fought together, played together, giggled at the same jokes, and generally been fools together their entire lives. The first person either of them turned to was each other, about anything from the worst day ever to a new game coming out.

And Sasha had a crush on her best friend.

She realized it a few months ago and tried to ignore it, but she had to come to the conclusion that she would never be satisfied if she didn't try to follow through with her feelings, even a little.

So, in an attempt to change Connie's opinion of her, she had joined her local gym. And she was doing miserably.

It was the fourth time she had visited the gym and she was slamming a fist on the bright STOP button of the treadmill, panting heavily and clutching at her chest as her lungs and heart tried to pound their way out from behind her ribs.

"You should start slow," a voice said to her left. "Level it up slowly each time."

She turned, using the back of her hand to wipe off the sweat that had collected on her forehead and was daring to fall into her eyes. A black haired girl with her toned arms folded across her chest, wearing a red muscle shirt that made her well-defined abs even clearer to see, was standing beside Sasha's treadmill. A name badge was clipped to her shirt.

"Thanks, Mikasa," she gasped, stepping off the back of the treadmill. "But those things should be called _dread_ mills."

The girl smiled, but it seemed to be just for politeness sake. "Going at over ten kilometres an hour straight off is only pushing yourself too far."

Sasha glanced at the next station – a crosstrainer. She grimaced. "Are you a personal trainer?" she asked Mikasa.

"I am."

Sasha swallowed as she continued to heave gasping breaths for air. "I can't afford you."

That made the girl's smile to appear more genuine. "I imagine you can't," she said, "but I'm just offering some friendly advice."

Sasha walked over to the crosstrainer and stepped up onto it. Mikasa was stood at her side again, reaching up to jab at some of the buttons on the display screen. Then she pulled away and gave Sasha another polite smile. "There you go."

Sasha watched the girl walk away, apparently returning to the person she was actually being paid to help work out. Then she began to move her legs, pushing herself into it. A few minutes later she realized that this time was a lot easier than the previous times she had tried this particular piece of equipment and she peered closer at the display screen. The resistance, time, and speed were all restricted so she couldn't go beyond a certain level but was still doing enough to get her heart rate going.

She sent Mikasa a silent thank you but the girl was standing watch over a scrawny teenage boy straining himself lifting weights too heavy for him. Soon enough, just as Sasha expected, Mikasa was ordering the boy to drop the weights and go for a lighter load.

Since that day every time Sasha went to the gym she saw Mikasa, and the girl in the red muscle shirt would at some point appear by her side, offer 'some friendly advice' and then return to whoever was actually paying for her time.

A month later and Sasha realized that she was thinking less about her crush on Connie and more about the days she visited the gym.

"Battle?" Connie asked her now. They were lounging on his bed, handheld game consoles in hand.

"Sure." She wirelessly connected her device to his and waited for the battle to load.

"I haven't seen much of you lately," Connie commented after the third round.

"What do you mean?" she asked, knowing full well that she had been opting out of spending evenings with him to go to the gym instead.

"Have you got a boyfriend and not told me?" he suddenly asked, making Sasha fumble and drop her game and stare at the boy.

" _What?_ "

He lowered his own game console and met her gaze steadily. "You've been going somewhere recently, and you seem distracted, like your mind is somewhere else. Or on someone else."

Sasha could only continue to silently stare at him, aghast and stunned.

"And you've been looking…better," the boy observed. "Like, fitter."

It was exactly what she had been aiming for, but strangely hearing him say it didn't make her feel happy.

"If you…if you have a boyfriend, you can tell me, y'know?" Something sad flitted across his face, something lonely and despondent. "We're best friends. We always tell each other everything."

Sasha shook her head and forced herself to speak. "I don't," she choked out. "I don't have a boyfriend."

"Oh." He looked relieved. "I see. That's great."

"Great..?" she repeated, suddenly feeling like she was being swallowed up in the weird atmosphere of the room.

Connie's face rushed bright red and he glanced away, pressing a button on his console to make an attack despite that fact the battle had been forgotten and they probably wouldn't be going back to it now. "Great because then I still have a chance."

This…this was exactly what she had been wishing to hear when she had first signed up for the gym. This was exactly what she had dreamt of. This was Connie answering her feelings, she knew it. He was about to confess to her, maybe ask her out, maybe change their relationship from best friends to boyfriend and girlfriend. She should have been feeling ecstatic, she should have been over the moon, shaking with nervousness and utter happiness, because the impossible was actually happening.

But instead, she felt empty. She suddenly _really_ wanted to go home. She didn't want to hear whatever he had to say next, because then their relationship really _would_ change.

She shot to her feet, stepping into her shoes, and snapped her game console shut, pushing it into her hoodie pocket. "I'll see you in class tomorrow."

"Sasha, wait-"

But she was out of the bedroom and running down his hallway, unlocking the front door and then sprinting down the road, away from his house, away from his confession, away from the blushing hope in his eyes.

She was nearly home when she finally slowed down to a walk, her sessions at the gym making a considerable improvement on her ability to run. She walked over to the bus stop and took a seat on the bench underneath the plastic shelter, taking out her game console. Her battle with Connie had been disconnected with the distance and she looked at it mournfully. She wanted to apologize to him for running away, but she also knew that tomorrow everything would be normal again. He probably would never mention it again and she would only make things uncomfortable if she brought it up.

She sighed and closed the disconnected battle, continuing the game itself.

It was growing dark when she sensed someone standing behind her, but she didn't look up.

"The last bus left ages ago."

She recognized that voice and her heart raced as she twisted around to see Mikasa leaning against the back of the bus shelter. She swallowed. "I know," she said. "I'm not waiting for a bus."

The girl was still wearing her work uniform, her red muscle shirt leaving her toned arms vulnerable to the cool night breeze, so she must have been on her way home after her shift. Her dark eyes looked at the game console in Sasha's hands and she leaned forwards for a closer look.

"Pidove," she read. "What's that?"

Sasha lifted it so she could get a better view. "It's Pokémon. Don't tell me you've never played Pokémon."

Mikasa shook her head.

Sasha felt a grin spread across her face and she patted the bench beside her. "Let me offer you some friendly advice then."

The girl walked around the bench and sat down, her bare skin touching Sasha's arm and she could feel Mikasa's body heat even through the material of her hoodie.

"Aren't you cold?" she asked in a quiet voice as she showed Mikasa how the game worked.

"No," the girl replied.

After a while, Sasha passed the console over to her so Mikasa could play the game by herself.

"This is fun," Mikasa commented after a few minutes.

Sasha was surprised. It didn't _look_ like the girl was having any fun. Her expression was no different than at any other time.

Mikasa returned the game to Sasha. "It's late," she said. "I have to go home."

Sasha looked at the time on her phone and bolted to her feet when she realized just how late it was. "I have to go too."

Mikasa stood up slowly and started walking away from the bus stop. Sasha watched her for a moment before she turned away and began to jog back home.

But then a voice calling after her made her stop. "See you tomorrow night."

Sasha spun around to see that Mikasa had stopped and was looking back at her, that small smile of hers on her lips. Sasha raised her hand and waved. "See you," she called back.

Then they both turned back and continued on their way home.

And as Sasha skipped up to her front door, key in hand and console in her hoodie pocket, still warm from Mikasa's hold, it dawned on her that it wasn't the gym she had been looking forward to every day, but the person she met there.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 **A oneshot for tumblr user, just-madman, as part of small collection of mikasasha oneshots under a particular theme of prompts.  
**

 **I've never written mikasasha before and I never really write Mikasa either, so forgive me for any mistakes in their characters.**

 **[3/4]**


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